Category: Transportation
-
How Bad was Elon Musk’s Week REALLY?
Regular readers know that I’ve been skeptically covering Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter (and other unhealthy decisions) for years. For both Musk admirers and detractors there has been a lot to follow lately: and… Analysis If you look at Tesla’s stock over the last 5 months, it resembles the EKG of a man with a bum ticker…
-
The Ghosts of What Wasn’t
A recent Economist article about dying small towns inspired me to think about Retro Futures, the failed promise of the hyperloop, and “sideshadows.” Typically, when I’ve written about retro futures, I’ve explored how old science fiction stories illuminate things happening today. This time, I’ll take a different angle. One of the problems with being a futurist…
-
Dueling Intelligences
How realistic is the idea that flesh and blood actors will soon find themselves performing alongside long-dead movie stars? Image created by DALL-E. Last time, I shared a microfiction (1,000 words or less), a short science fiction story called “The Only Living Boy,” about an actor, Tom, who is the only flesh and blood performer…
-
CES, Paradigm Shifts, Spandrels, and Collateral Damage
What this week’s Consumer Electronics Show has to do with death of cursive writing in American schools, how to break down the elements of disruption, and more. I spent the week leading tours of the automotive hall at CES with my friends at StoryTech. (My favorite exhibit was the quietly transformative What3Words.) As we explored new Electric…
-
Musk, Trump, Twitter, and New Media Math
It’s a good thing for the commonwealth that Elon Musk was born in South Africa; that fact bars him from seeking the U.S. presidency. Otherwise, it’s a sure bet that he’d run as a third party candidate in 2024. He’d win, too. Musk understands the media better than all but one other person. That one…
-
THIS is the kinder, gentler Uber?
This week, the California legislature passed an important bill that could result in the reclassification of Uber and Lyft drivers as employees instead of contractors. The change might entitle drivers to minimum wage, benefits, collective bargaining, and a host of other knife-to-the-neck threats to the short-term survival of the ride-hailing companies that are, in the long term,…
-
When businesses ask the wrong question
The question most businesses ask most frequently is “how am I doing compared to my direct competitor?” This is the wrong question, and it leaves businesses vulnerable rather than future-proof. Let’s use car ownership as a key example of a broader phenomenon. Car sales decline The transportation news making the biggest headlines over the last few…